


Revival

by Llama1412



Category: Merlin (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Reincarnation, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2011-03-29
Updated: 2011-03-29
Packaged: 2021-03-01 02:46:44
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,244
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23307775
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Llama1412/pseuds/Llama1412
Summary: Reincarnation!AU Arthur, Gwen, and Morgana are tasked with waking a legend from its sleep.
Kudos: 21





	Revival

**Author's Note:**

> Originally posted to livejournal March 2011. Posted unedited.

Title: Revival  
Author: Llama1412  
Universe: BBC Merlin  
Characters: Arthur, Morgana, Gwen, Merlin  
Disclaimer: Characters from BBC Merlin and the Arthurian Legends do not belong to me.  
Author's Note: Written for the MerlinxArthur Fanfiction Challenge 6 using [picture 2](http://i574.photobucket.com/albums/ss188/bcmoodtheme/mxachallenge6/challengepic2.jpg), [picture 3](http://i574.photobucket.com/albums/ss188/bcmoodtheme/mxachallenge6/challengepic3.jpg), and additionally, [this picture](http://www.silvermane.com/acatalog/BJ-SR15G.jpg)  
Beta'd by: [](http://m0nsterface.livejournal.com/profile)[**m0nsterface**](http://m0nsterface.livejournal.com/)  
Summary: Reincarnation!AU Arthur, Gwen, and Morgana are tasked with waking a legend from its sleep.

They found the answer in a land of legend. Once named Avalon, it was now part of Glastonbury. Books could tell them that much.

What they couldn’t tell them was why they were drawn there. Why had the ring, a mysterious gift, brought them here?

They found out soon enough.

Their research brought them to a castle, long forgotten by tourists. The locals said it was cursed. There were statues, they said, of medieval knights. Every person who ever attempted to enter the castle swore that the knights had moved, blocking them out.

“It’s ridiculous, of course.” Morgana declared when they stood down the hill from the castle. “Statues that come to life? Please.”

“It doesn’t matter.” Arthur rolled the ring between his fingers. “There has to be a reason why we see these dreams. Everything points to this. I don’t care what the locals say; I’m going there.”

Morgana shrugged, shoving her hands into the pockets of ripped jeans. “Let’s go, then.”

“This is going to sound stupid, but…” Gwen bit her lip, “what if those aren’t just stones? I mean, I know it sounds crazy, but…I mean, a ring giving us dreams of the lives of King Arthur and his court? That’s a bit crazy, yeah? So…I mean, it’s possible, right? Crazy stuff.”

“If statues try to fight us, then we fight back.” Arthur said. The words should sound ridiculous, but he said them with such conviction that he felt himself believing them.

“Against stone?” The frown on Gwen’s face was disapproving.

“You’ll lose,” Morgana laughed. “Against a statue.”

“I will not! I can fight!”

“Sure, sure.” Morgana waved a careless hand. “Shall we?”

She started up the rock path to the grey stone walls of the fortress. Arthur huffed at her mentally. He knew this was just a game to her, but really, she had no grounds to mock him. Besides, wasn't he supposed to be leading this thing? He rushed to catch up and Gwen's uncertain footsteps crunched in the gravel behind him.

As soon as they entered the castle boundaries, an eerie silence fell over the air. Sound seemed to mute; bird cries petered out and the howl of the wind ceased. Shadows jumped along the cracked, weed-infested stones of the courtyard. It seemed almost as if they were following them. But, that couldn't be right.

“What the hell?” Morgana’s breath puffed out in front of her. She huddled close to Gwen as shivers abruptly wracked her frame. “What – what’s happening? Why's it so cold?”

“Look!” Gwen hissed. She pointed at a stone knight standing guard by the entrance to the inner-courtyard. “It…it’s not stopping us, right? I mean, it won’t attack us…right?”

“Of course not.” Arthur reached out and grabbed each of their hands. His fingers were strangely warm, considering how cold the girls had gotten. “Come on.”

They marched forward one step at a time. “It moved,” Gwen exclaimed.

“Don’t be stupid, Gwen. It’s a statue. It can’t hurt us. And if they could, well, we’ll just throw Arthur at it and run, ‘kay? You’ll be fine, I promise.”

“Bitch.” Arthur squeezed her hand anyway. “She’s right, Gwen. See? It hasn’t moved at all.” They crossed further into the courtyard, passed the knight.

“Yes, it has.” Gwen breathed. They spun around. The statue was kneeling, its head bowed.

“Impossible. It – it was always like that, wasn’t it? It couldn’t have moved.”

“It doesn’t matter.” Arthur’s eyes were wide with alarm, but he pulled them away.

In the center of the courtyard, there was a ring of statues, their swords plunged into the ground and their postures portraying respect. They surrounded what looked like a obsidian altar.

Without his noticing, Arthur’s hands slipped from his companions’, his feet taking him forward. A mist seemed to descend upon his mind, blocking away everything but the altar. But it wasn’t an altar, he realized as he got closer.

Arthur dropped to his knees next to the tomb effigy of a man in ceremonial robes of stone. “Emrys,” the carving on the ring fell from his lips. Wind picked up around them, swirling in a cyclone.

“Arthur,” Gwen’s voice wobbled and her knuckles were white, Morgana’s hand crushed in her’s.

“It’s all right.” He closed his eyes, an eerie smile on his face. “They’re waking up.”

Stone crunched as the wind swirled faster. “That’s a good thing!?” Morgana screamed. She pulled Gwen to the ground as one of the statues lost grip on its sword and the stone cleaver flew past them.

Gwen whimpered, noise lost in the weather. “Can they wake up faster? Because I think we’re in trouble, you know, considering _tornado_!”

“It needs more,” Arthur’s voice, though hardly whispered, somehow managed to carry. “What does it need?”

Another stone shape went hurtling passed and Gwen shrieked, “Hurry up!”  
  
“I don’t know what he needs!” Arthur’s head bent forward onto the effigy. “What do you need?”

“Memories!” Morgana’s revelation was a shout. “Remember the dreams! It needs something from them!”

Arthur shut his eyes, and pressed his face to the smooth, obsidian arm. What did he know from the dreams that would help? What had he learned? No, what had he _remembered_?

_I’d never have a friend who could be such an ass._

_Tell me,_ Mer _lin, do you know how to walk on your knees?_

_I’m happy to serve you until the day I die._

_I trust you, Merlin. I'll always trust you to do the right thing._

_Stay with me, Arthur! You’re not allowed to die! Don’t leave me, Arthur, please!_

_I love you._

“Merlin.” His eyes snapped open. “Merlin, gods, Merlin.” The name became muffled as he pressed his mouth to the obsidian, but he continued to utter it again and again.

He thought he was imagining it at first. But no, the stone underneath his lips seemed to heat up, come to life. The wind’s intensity increased and he could hear the snapping movement of fabric against skin.

“Arthur!”

The wind ceased. Gwen and Morgana toppled face first into the ground. “What – what happened?”

“Emrys has awoken.” A gravelly voice said. The girls spun around to find nine battered men dressed in medieval armor.

“Wha – ?”

“Holy shit!”

“It is a pleasure to see you again, my ladies, sire.” The knights bowed before them.

“Um…did the statues just come to life?” Gwen asked.

“We brought them back,” Arthur had risen from his crouch and now stood next to the effigy, arms supporting a young man with dark hair and long blue robes. The man's face was stretched into a smile, though his eyes were unfocused with the vestiges of sleep.

"'lo," his eyes fluttered and he turned his face into Arthur's neck. "Thank you."

The knights offered a hand up to the shell shocked girls as Arthur's arms tightened around the boy. "You, um, you're not supposed to seem familiar," Gwen said.

"Give it time, Gwen. You'll remember. The Court of Camelot has awakened to serve the people. When the battle arrives, you will be ready, I promise."


End file.
